50 acre arable farm

In this model, the farmer grows a heritage population winter wheat on 25 acres which are rented on short term cropping licences. A high biomass cover crop is drilled in May and grown over the summer, then incorporated before the winter wheat. Muck-spreading is contracted, as is the combining of the crop. The wheat yields 1 - 1.5 tons per acre which is dried, cleaned and milled on farm and processed through an on-farm artisan bakery, producing 240kg of bread per week. A mobile pizza oven operates 3 nights a week through the summer holidays and does 20 other nights throughout the year. The low yield of heritage population wheat is more than made up for in the increased value from direct marketing and processing.

The bread is sold at £4.50/kg and is baked on two days of the week. The bread requires 12 tons of flour and brings in £54,000 over the year. The pizzas are baked in a mobile oven that are taken to local venues. On average a pizza night brings in £800, once the right locations are found. The pizza enterprise uses a further 7.6 tons of flour and brings in £30,400. In addition, straw is sold bringing in a further £2,500. The total income of the business is around £86,540

The bulk of the labour is provided by the farmer/baker, although the pizza enterprise requires two people to staff and so in the summer the team would expand to 1.5 - 2 FTE.

If the business were to be operating on land owned by the farmer a significantly larger portion of land would be required to grow fertility building crops and rotate the wheat. This could also be combined with livestock enterprises, which would offer the additional benefits of manure, or additional arable crops. An alternative to the cultivation based system in this model would be to use an min-till drill designed for Organic systems such as the Eco Dyn, however these cost around £35,000 and would significantly increase start up costs.